Jurassic World: Convergence
by godfreyraphael
Summary: China announces that it now has the ability to clone dinosaurs. The nightmare of genetic proliferation has come true. And when it all inevitably goes wrong in Hong Kong, the people whose lives have been touched by Jurassic Park and Jurassic World will all come together for one more experience with the dinosaurs. Life always find a way. Never let it be said that we weren't warned.
1. The Hong Kong Incident

**INTRODUCTION**

" **The Hong Kong Incident"**

The rapid and meteoric rise of the People's Republic of China into a credible geopolitical force as well as an economic and political superpower was incredible both for the fact that no one could have predicted it and that everyone should have seen it coming from a mile away. One does not simply ignore a country that calls itself home to over a billion people, over one-seventh of the entire human population on Earth. The thing that people should always remember when dealing with China though is that both the Chinese people and the Chinese government have striven to prove to themselves and to the rest of the world that they are entirely capable of turning the Middle Kingdom into a global superpower. That in itself was not a bad thing; the modern world owes itself to the fact that the people who made it possible wanted to prove themselves to everyone else. It was the manner by which the Chinese government sought to achieve their superpower status that was worrying and problematic for the rest of the world though.

It should be noted that China has consistently denied the allegations that has been leveled against it in terms of how they had acquired their technological prowess. And of course it was completely plausible that China has advanced its technology in a natural and logical manner and that breakthroughs had occurred naturally for China's scientists and innovators to take advantage. But there have been times in which a person, more often than not of Chinese descent, would disappear and then a few weeks to a few months later, a Chinese company or the Chinese government itself would announce that it had made an astounding breakthrough that had basically advanced the Chinese technological base by leaps and bounds. The most egregious example of this was when a NASA scientist disappeared sometime in 2012 and then months later, the Chinese government announces an ambitious plan by its space program to launch a rover to the Moon within the next two years. Of course, correlation does not equal causation, but for many geopolitical observers, the leap in progress by the Chinese space program from merely launching satellites and a space station into orbit to an actual proposed Moon landing (by a remotely guided probe, but still) was still a little too coincidental to be a mere natural breakthrough on the part of the Chinese. It didn't help that there were rumors that the very same NASA scientist who disappeared was reportedly spotted working alongside technicians from China's space program.

It was very much the same thing with regards to the genetic technology that International Genetics Incorporated had unleashed upon the world through Jurassic Park and now Jurassic World. China had undoubtedly established its own genetic engineering laboratories and facilities as soon as InGen's research became public in 1997 in the aftermath of the San Diego Incident and the subsequent revelation of the existence of dinosaurs on the Costa Rican islands of Nublar and Sorna. Everyone wanted to make their own dinosaurs, or at least have the ability to make dinosaurs. But with InGen's technology and information being patented and protected as soon as they went public, these other people were basically stuck with starting from the ground up, which to their credit they did. But their attempts to replicate InGen's successes were poor at best and laughably woeful at worst. It seemed as if humanity was destined to live in a world where InGen would hold a monopoly on their genetic engineering technology.

But as with all monopolies though, it wouldn't last. With the destruction and subsequent closure of the Masrani Group's Jurassic World, the vast majority of Jurassic World's scientists, the geneticists and bio-engineers who were largely responsible for bringing John Hammond's dream back to life, now found themselves out of employment. It was inevitable that these unemployed scientists would sell their services to the highest bidder no matter who they were. But it wasn't one of these jobless scientists who would prove to be the key to breaking InGen's monopoly on cloning and resurrecting dinosaurs. It would actually be one of the few scientists who had been retained by InGen who would give one of the world's superpowers the keys to the kingdom that is dinosaur genetic engineering. And it would be this one man's actions which would lead the city of Hong Kong and even the world to the brink of destruction. All because specific persons in power had wanted to flex their metaphorical muscles at the world by unleashing dinosaurs into an urban environment to quell a peaceful protest.

* * *

A/N: I have to say that this might not be the best intro that I have ever made but personally I believe it's good enough to be the intro for my latest entry into Jurassic Park/World fanfiction. This is as canon-compliant to the five films as I could possibly make it along with my own fic _Jurassic World: The Most Dangerous Game_. As much as possible there are going to be no spoilers for _The Most Dangerous Game_ here in _Convergence_ seeing as I'm not yet done with that other fic just yet but I might end up slipping in a reference to my other fic here or there. That being said, I present to you _Jurassic World: Convergence_. Enjoy. - GR


	2. Prologue: The Defector

2016 is generally considered as an _annus horribilis_ in the recent history of mankind. It was the year when there was no such thing as common sense. The United Kingdom voted by referendum to leave the European Union, the people of Colombia rejected by referendum a ceasefire that would have finally put an end to a decades-long insurgency by the rebel group FARC, and the people of the United States voted Donald Trump as their new president. All these came in contrary to what both people and the polls had predicted would happen. The polls had said that the British people would vote to remain in the EU, that the Colombian people would agree to the ceasefire with FARC, and that the American people would vote for Hillary Clinton. What the polls said was apparently not what the people really wanted.

But the departure of logic and common sense was not all that bad, at least in terms of sport. Leicester City won their first ever English Premier League title against all the odds, and LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers defied expectations and became the first team to win the NBA Finals after coming from a 3-1 series deficit. 2016 may not have been all bad, but it was most certainly not all good either.

2016 also marked the first year since the Second Isla Nublar Incident, when the reality of Jurassic World had become a dream and a distant memory once again. Reports vary as to what exactly had happened in Isla Nublar and Jurassic World during that particular incident, but what people could agree upon was that one dinosaur, a strange and mysterious one that people had never seen or even heard of before, had escaped its paddock and started a chain reaction of chaos and mayhem that resulted in lots of injuries to the park visitors and even a number of deaths that even today remain undisclosed.

Jurassic World and Isla Nublar had once again been abandoned, the dinosaurs left to their own devices, to live on the island as they pleased. But in their haste to leave the island, the scientists and geneticists of Jurassic World, led by Dr. Henry Wu, had left behind terabytes of data and research into the proper creation and care of dinosaurs. But it wasn't this vast cache of data sitting practically unguarded in an abandoned island in the Pacific which would cause all sorts of problems for Wu and his new benefactors, but rather the surprising new location of a person whom he had once thought of as a mentor and a friend.

Henry Wu paced around the wood-paneled study in the middle of Lockwood Manor, barely paying any attention to the dinosaur fossils mounted and on display inside the study. There were glass displays inside the walls as well showing dinosaurs in action poses in front of nature scenes. The study was being kept cool by an extensive air conditioning system and yet Wu could feel sweat forming on his forehead, some of which dropped down the side of his face and soaked the collar of his black turtleneck sweater. He didn't know what he was more nervous about, the fact that he had to report that another InGen scientist had defected to China or that he had to report about this like a naughty boy sent to the principal's office even though Wu had been the one to set up this meeting in the first place.

The doors to the study opened and two men walked in, a young one and an old one. The young man was Eli Mills, a thirty-something who was variously described as a businessman, a business adviser, and even a legal adviser. Mills currently served in the latter two roles for the older man, Benjamin Lockwood, who was most famous for being the man who paid for the birth of Jurassic Park and, by extension, Jurassic World. There was a running joke among those who had been with InGen from the start: Norman Atherton created the idea of resurrecting dinosaurs, John Hammond promoted the idea through the concept of Jurassic Park, and Benjamin Lockwood paid for the whole thing. This wasn't technically true of course; no one man could have funded the entirety of the Jurassic Park venture by himself, and it was indeed consortia which provided the majority of InGen and Jurassic Park's funding, but Benjamin Lockwood was the first one to put money behind InGen, and hence he had his own role in the birth of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World.

"Ah, Henry," Lockwood said as he laid eyes on the geneticist for the first time upon entering the study. Despite his age, Lockwood was still remarkably fit, although he now had to use the cane that he had initially adopted as an affectation for its original purpose to help him walk. Wu had only noticed that when he had met Lockwood for the first time since the Jurassic World incident which was nine months after. Before that, Lockwood had been spry enough to participate in an actual marathon.

Lockwood walked for a large mahogany table set into a corner of the study, followed by both Mills and Wu. He sat down in the large leather chair behind the table, set his amber-topped cane on the desktop, and crossed his legs. "So, Henry, let's have at it," he told Wu. "What did you want to tell me today?"

Wu sighed and took out his iPad and pulled up the web page of a news article that he had saved for this very meeting. He handed the iPad to Lockwood, who had to put on a pair of glasses even after he had already zoomed in on the web page. "What exactly am I supposed to be looking at here, Henry?" Lockwood asked. "Are you trying to pull a fast one on me? Because this whole article is in Chinese."

"You don't have to read the article, Benjamin," Wu replied. "Just keep your focus on the picture there."

"Am I supposed to know who these people are?"

"Unless you're quite familiar with Chinese politics then not really. But it's the man in the glasses and the lab coat I want you to look at." Wu pointed at the man in question in the picture.

"And who is he supposed to be?" Mills asked the geneticist after the former had leaned over Lockwood's desk to look at the photo.

"That, gentlemen, is Dr. Nam Tsing," Wu replied. "He's a long-time servant of InGen and has been with us since the original Jurassic Park right up to Jurassic World. That is, until now."

"What do you mean by that, Henry?" Lockwood asked.

"Dr. Nam used to work for us, for InGen, until two months ago, when he handed me his resignation letter and said that he was going back to Taiwan to take some time off for himself and meditate on his life after InGen and Jurassic World," Wu explained. "The man's 75; I'd say that he deserves the break more than anyone else. Anyway, Nam flew from San Francisco to Taipei, and from Taipei he boarded a flight to Kinmen, where he still has some relatives living from before he emigrated to the US. He actually sent me an email when he finally arrived in Kinmen, and then nothing. For two months there was absolutely no word from Nam. It appeared as if Nam had dropped by his relatives and then immediately disappeared into thin air. And then, yesterday, this happened." Wu tapped his iPad to make his point.

"So the old man resurfaced in Beijing," Mills said with a shrug. "Why should we be concerned at all with that?"

"You're not getting my point, Eli," Wu said. "Nam didn't just disappear from Kinmen for two months to resurface in Beijing alongside the Chinese Politburo yesterday. The man defected to the Chinese."

"Defected?" Lockwood asked. "You mean like Cold War 'defected'?"

"Yes, I do mean Cold War 'defected'," Wu replied. "Dr. Nam knows just about everything about InGen's projects, both for Jurassic Park and Jurassic World. He even has data and files from the IBRIS Project that he took with him to Kinmen, and we now have to assume that he took that data with him to mainland China and turned them over to the PLA."

"I'm sorry, what was the PLA again?" Mills asked.

"It's the Chinese Army, Eli," Wu said. "Surely you've had your own share of past dealings with them in the course of your business. But I digress. Now the Chinese have first-hand knowledge of how to clone and genetically engineer a dinosaur because of this one man, Nam Tsing. Do you know what this means, gentlemen? It means that we have just lost our monopoly on being the only company, the only people who know how to clone dinosaurs. And that is not how we are going to improve our bottom line, gentlemen."

"Hang on a minute, Henry," Mills said, raising a hand. "How can you be so sure that the Chinese are going to clone dinosaurs so quickly after this former InGen scientist defected to them? It took us over thirty years to develop and then refine the technology we use to bring these animals back to life. Won't it take them that long to do it as well even with this Dr. Nam's knowledge?"

"You underestimate the lengths that the Chinese will go to just to gain an advantage for themselves," Wu said. "I'm sure that the Chinese have already got their own dinosaur cloning technology, facilities and techniques and have been developing it ever since John Hammond went public with the existence of both Jurassic Park and Site B in 1997. I would even daresay that they've managed to copy our own tech and incorporate Biosyn's tech when one of their numerous shell companies acquired Biosyn in late 2004. I'm telling you, Eli, once Nam defected to mainland China and he gave them all that he knew about our operations, they've already started production of their own dinosaurs. And it's only a matter of time before they flood the market with their dinosaurs, their products, like they've always done with everything else that you can sell and commoditize in this planet."

"Well, when you explain it like that, it really does sound like a worst-case scenario," Mills said once he had grasped what the geneticist was trying to say. "Maybe not the absolute worst-case scenario, but still, it's pretty bad. And the Chinese are probably going to sell cheap as well, like they always do. Benjamin, I'm afraid we have to go ahead with the harvest."

"Absolutely not!" Lockwood said back sternly. "We have already talked about this before, Eli. The dinosaurs stay on Nublar. That's what John would have wanted. Heck, that's what John did with Site B. Besides, we have a perfectly good cloning laboratory here in the manor. Henry created one of his new-fangled hybrids here, didn't he?"

"That was just one hybrid, Benjamin," Mills countered. " _One_ creature. And it didn't even last that long after hatching before it flatlined. We don't have the resources or even the space to initiate an industrial operation here in your manor or even your whole property. And speaking of hybrids, Henry, does your friend Nam know about those as well?"

"No," Wu replied firmly. "Nam wasn't on the team that helped me create the _Indominus rex_ , and my team also know only bits and pieces about the whole project. Everything about the hybrids is in here." Wu tapped his temple for effect. "Only I know how to create a dinosaur hybrid, and only I know how to create a viable one as well."

"I'm sure for you, it's all well and good that you're the only person who knows how to create a viable dinosaur hybrid, Henry," Mills said in a low tone, "but I think it's time that we dealt with the elephant in the room. How do we, how do I know that you're not going to do what Nam did and defect to China as well with your knowledge and skill of making hybrids?"

Wu walked up to Mills until both men were face to face and eye to eye. Neither man flinched at the other's gaze. "The Red Guards killed my grandfather because he wouldn't let my father and my father's brothers be conscripted into their gang of bloodthirsty and murderous Maoist worshippers," Wu hissed. "My other grandfather was killed during the Great Leap Forward, and then the Cultural Revolution claimed my mother and my grandmothers as well. Believe me, Eli, when I say that I am the last person on Earth who would even think about defecting to the communist Chinese. I would rather stick a power drill into my brain before I would even think about going to mainland China and giving those red bastards a single byte of my research."

"I believe you have made your point abundantly clear, Henry," Lockwood said in an attempt to diffuse the situation. "Now can we go back to the matter at hand?"

"Of course," Wu said, backing away from Mills but still keeping eye contact with the legal assistant.

"So, Henry, how are we going to beat the Chinese to the punch and get our dinosaurs out onto the market first?" Lockwood asked.

"Unfortunately, Benjamin, I have to side with Eli on this one," Wu replied. "We have to harvest the dinosaurs on Nublar. He's right: there's no room to grow an entire batch of creatures here in your manor. Our labs simply don't have the requisite capacity and capabilities. If we want to beat the Chinese to the market, we need to get our assets off of Isla Nublar and sell those. Our potential buyers will surely recognize those dinosaurs if they have been to Jurassic World, and they will know that they are getting their money's worth if they see that we're giving them hardy, tried and tested dinosaurs."

Lockwood sighed and shook his head. "Why do I get the feeling that the two of you are ganging up on me?" he asked rhetorically.

"We're not ganging up on you, Benjamin," Mills said, raising his hands to his chest. "We're just telling you the facts. I agree with you, those animals would probably be better off if they're left alone to live their lives on Isla Nublar, but the fact of the matter is that that island paradise isn't going to last forever for those dinosaurs. The USGS has already said that Mount Sibo is showing signs of waking up from its dormancy. Predictions are that it could wake up and erupt in as little as three weeks or as long as five years, Now we can wait that long and see if the volcano will indeed erupt, or we can work on getting our dinosaurs, our assets, off of that island and cash in on them while they're still alive because, let's admit it, those dinosaurs are going to be of no use to us at all if they're all buried under ash and lava like those Romans in Pompeii. Believe me, Benjamin, the right time to cash in on these dinosaurs is now."

Lockwood sighed once again. "So you're telling me that these dinosaurs, and the park in itself, would have been at risk of being destroyed by the volcano that we had all been assured would not erupt in the next hundred years, in the next five years?" he asked the other men. Both Mills and Wu silently nodded their heads. "It's settled, then," Lockwood said with some displeasure. "You better make sure that you can find a way to get those dinosaurs off that island without making too much of a fuss, Eli," he told Mills.

"Of course, sir," Mills said with a nod.

"And you, Henry," Lockwood said to Wu, "I assume that despite the setback of your hatchlings failing to incubate, you are still working on your, shall we say, magnum opus?"

"The _Indoraptor_ is not my magnum opus, Benjamin," Wu said with a strained smile. "That would be the _Indominus rex_."

"Ah, yes, that would be the creature that destroyed Jurassic World, was it not?"

"That was not my intention in creating the _Indominus_ , of course, but if only the park people had shown her the proper care and training, she would have been Jurassic World's greatest attraction yet."

"An attraction that would have had to be removed from Isla Nublar because of Mount Sibo anyway," Mills added. "And speaking of your beloved _Indominus_ , that expedition that you ordered to Nublar just returned. They've got what you asked them to take from there."

"For once in your life, you've finally managed to bring me some good news, Eli," Wu said. "Have your men bring it to my lab downstairs. I should finally be able to fix all of those incubation problems that I've been having with this new hybrid."

"I hope that that rib that you fished from the lagoon is going to be worth it, Henry," Mills said. "I lost three men and a DSV pulling it out for you."

"Oh, trust me, Eli, it _will_ be worth it," Wu shot back. "Once people see my _Indoraptor_ , they will be tripping over themselves just to get a bid in."

"Gentlemen, if you're finished verbally attacking each other," Lockwood interrupted. "I think it's time that both of you got on with your jobs. Eli, you have your job, and Henry, you have yours. I, meanwhile, am going to spend some more quality time with my granddaughter."

"Tell Maisie I said hi," Mills said as Lockwood grabbed his amber-tipped cane and stood up from behind his desk.

"And tell Maisie that I need to see her for some more fitness and endocrine tests," Wu added. "I really think that the growth hormones should be given to her directly and not put in her food and drink, but I know that you're trying to keep as much of her true nature hidden from her as possible."

"Will do," Lockwood said back as he left the study. Wu and Mills looked at each other and then went their separate ways as well, Mills to contact the necessary people to arrange for the "harvesting" of Jurassic World's dinosaurs on Isla Nublar, and Wu to continue work on his latest hybrid dinosaur.


	3. Announcement

_Two years later  
_ _Beijing, China_

"Ladies and gentlemen, comrades of the National People's Congress, please welcome Comrade Fu Qengdung, Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China!"

Almost three thousand people packed inside the Great Hall of the People, a massive state building located almost squarely in the center of Beijing which housed the Chinese National People's Congress, the main legislative body of China, stood up to applaud the arrival of a bespectacled man in a charcoal gray suit and a red tie. He was in his early fifties; his thick black hair was slicked back tight by pomade, and he carried himself with a calm and quiet dignity. He was Fu Qengdung, and he was the second most powerful man in China, second only to the president himself.

Fu was a career member of the Chinese Communist Party (but then again, everyone had to be a member of the party in order to stand a chance of rising through the ranks of Chinese politics) but like everyone else in the party, he knew that communism was as good as dead. The best that they would be able to do with China was to steer it to a socialist system with enough market freedom to keep the capitalists in the west and the Japanese and Koreans interested in investing into the Chinese economy. Fu was also a part of the fifth generation of Chinese politics, the men and women responsible for turning China into an actual economic and geopolitical powerhouse. It was under the fifth generation that China became richer and more assertive, flexing its military might and pushing territorial claims that had lain dormant following the end of the Cold War.

Fu Qengdung also fancied himself as an innovator. He thought himself to have his finger on the pulse of the masses as well as being up to date on the cutting edge of technology. With the number of smartphone companies that had sprung up in China during the latter part of the 2010s under the rule of the fifth generation, China had practically taken the lead in terms of smartphone innovations. But for Fu, advancing China as a world leader involved much more than just smartphones. He wanted China to become the world leader in designer dinosaurs as well.

Everyone knows that dinosaurs were _the_ consumer item to have following the opening of Jurassic World on the bones of the former Jurassic Park in 2005. When Jurassic World was forced to close itself off permanently to the public in 2015, all of the park's dinosaurs were left to live for themselves on Isla Nublar and no one else apart from the scientists who had worked on that island knew how to create dinosaurs. But Fu knew better. The defection of InGen's Nam Tsing, carefully orchestrated by the Ministry of State Security under Fu's personal supervision, had seen to that. And now, two years after Nam's defection and with the dinosaurs of Jurassic World coming back to the forefront of people's minds thanks to the situation on Nublar with Mount Sibo waking up from its dormancy, was for Fu the perfect time to introduce China's entry into the field of dinosaur engineering.

Fu took the podium in the middle of the semicircular hall and waited for the applause to end before he opened his mouth to speak. "Ladies and gentlemen, comrades of the National People's Congress," he began, "today I am here to announce that the People's Republic of China has once again achieved the impossible!" His opening statement was enough to elicit another round of applause from the three thousand Chinese Communist Party members inside the Great Hall of the People.

Fu once again waited for the applause to end before he spoke again. "For two decades, those of us who have a fascination with the prehistoric past of our planet have looked at a small group of islands off the coast of Central America and wondered, 'How did a group of scientists and capitalists from the United States manage to bring dinosaurs and other extinct prehistoric species back to life, and how can we recreate that technology?' Well, comrades, today I give you the answer: comrade Dr. Nam Tsing.

"As I am sure all of you in here are well aware, Dr. Nam Tsing offered his services to the People's Republic following the disaster that occurred in Jurassic World in 2015," Fu continued, "and his expertise in the requisite fields of genetics and bio-engineering have advanced our own understanding of these subjects by leaps and bounds. Before the arrival of Dr. Nam, our own scientists have said that we should consider ourselves lucky if we have the ability to clone dinosaurs before the end of the current decade. But now, thanks to Dr. Nam's knowledge, I am pleased to announce that we have now indeed achieved this ability. International Genetics and the United States of America are no longer the only group and nation capable of cloning live dinosaurs. I am pleased to announce that the People's Republic of China is now a genetic superpower!"

Once more, thunderous applause followed Fu's words, and it actually took five minutes for the clapping to die down to a level where Fu thought he would be able to speak without raising his voice once again. "Comrades, ladies and gentlemen of the National People's Congress," he continued, "I am also pleased to announce that our top scientists, geneticists and engineers have successfully managed to resurrect at least a dozen species of dinosaur. These range from small species such as _Mei long_ and _Microraptor_ to sauropods like _Nemegtosaurus_ to the _Tarbosaurus_ , our very own tyrannosaur. All of these species resurrected by our own scientists come from fossil formations within China, Mongolia, Korea, Japan, and Russia, both because they are the most accessible ones for our scientists and as a mark of our scientists' devotion and patriotism to the People's Republic of China.

"Our newfound ability to clone and resurrect dinosaurs serves a twofold purpose, comrades," Fu continued. He was finally hitting his groove; every single person in the National People's Congress was now hooked on his every word. He had their complete and undivided attention, a rare feat in and of itself even in the communal hive mind of the Communist Party. "The first purpose is to capitalize on the need of the people of the world to gaze upon living and breathing dinosaurs once again. The loss of Jurassic World was a crippling blow to the dream of man and dinosaur both walking the earth once again, and many people have felt it keenly. The people want to see dinosaurs, casualties be damned! Jurassic World had a monopoly on that particular market, and they unwisely decided to give it up just because a dinosaur broke out of its confinement. Now, they will regret abandoning their park because today, comrades, I unveil to you, Prehistoric World!"

Two of Fu's aides had wheeled in a cart covered by a white cloth into the Great Hall, and after Fu had proclaimed his bold statement, he grabbed the sheet and pulled it off of the cart, revealing a diorama of a chain of islands on which figures of dinosaurs were mounted. There were a few oohs and ahs from the National People's Congress as they looked upon Fu's diorama. "This is Prehistoric World, ladies and gentlemen," he said. "This is a park sixty-five million years in the making. As you can see, the park itself will not be located on just one island. It has been decided that we will split the dinosaur exhibits over our islands and territorial holdings in the Paracel and Spratly Islands. The engineers of the People's Liberation Army have acquired a vast wealth of experience in expanding the reefs in the Spratly Islands from mere reefs and sandbars to artificial islands capable of handling the most advanced equipment that our navy and air force have in their arsenal. Creating a few more artificial islands to hold dinosaurs is child's play for them, and construction of the islands for Prehistoric World is currently going on as I speak.

"Now, for the second purpose of our newfound genetic power, I turn the floor over to my good friend, Comrade General Tan Yuseng of the Third Artillery Corps of the People's Liberation Army." Fu stepped aside to more applause from the National People's Congress, and up to the podium stepped General Tan Yuseng of the People's Liberation Army. Tan was wearing the classical olive green dress uniform of the PLA, and his chest was covered by a vast array of medals. Tan himself was in his early forties, and physically he couldn't have been any more different from Fu Qengdung than he already was. Whereas Fu was stocky, solidly built, and looked very much like the dictionary definition of a Chinese, Tan was scrawny and even bone thin, and his uniform looked like it was at least two sizes too big for him. His skin was pale and almost sickly white, a notable difference from the yellows and browns in the Great Hall around him. His lips were big, bulbous, and pink, giving them an almost feminine look. Tan's eyes also lacked the eye fold normally associated with the East Asians, and it didn't help that his eyes were also wide-set, giving him a constant deer-in-the-headlights look. He saw the world through thick horn-rimmed glasses, and his officer's cap sat atop spiky and messy black hair that appeared resistant to all attempts to tame it and make itself more presentable.

But underneath Tan Yuseng's physical appearance was a clever, cunning and calculating mind that had seen him rise from being a malnourished and underfed conscript into one of the most powerful men in China. Tan commanded the Third Artillery Corps of the People's Liberation Army, which had little if anything to do with artillery itself and was actually more of a brigade or division in size than a corps. Bluntly speaking though, the Third Artillery Corps was the PLA unit which encompassed all of China's special warfare and unconventional warfare units. Chinese special forces operators similar to America's Navy SEALs and Delta Force were directly under the command of the Third Artillery Corps and Tan Yuseng, and dedicated electronic warfare specialists (bureaucrat-ese for hackers) were also included among the Third Artillery's personnel.

Tan Yuseng was also a Chinese patriot, and he along with Fu Qengdung had helped push the idea of China cloning its own dinosaurs to the rest of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, a close-knit body of government officials, bureaucrats, and army officers that reported directly to the president of China.

"Thank you, Comrade Fu," Tan said to the Chinese Premier, who had taken his seat beside the Chinese President behind the speaker's podium. Tan then cleared his throat before he proceeded to speak. "Comrades, ladies and gentlemen of the National People's Congress, my good friend Comrade Premier Fu Qengdung has explained to you the first purpose of our newfound genetic power, and now he has called upon me to present the second purpose of our genetic power. I am sure that a lot of you in here may have heard rumors that there were rebellions going on in the Xinjiang and Tibet Autonomous Regions. Today, comrades, I stand before you to tell you that there were indeed rebellions in the aforementioned regions. Note that I said 'were'. What I mean to say is that rebels have indeed manage to capture the cities of Urumqi and Lhasa and attempted to proclaim the independence of both Xinjiang and Tibet from the People's Republic, but both of these rebellions were swiftly and immediately crushed by the People's Liberation Army, and we have achieved this without the loss of a single life on the side of the army."

This time, Tan's announcement was followed not by applause but by whispering, muttering, and a general air of disbelief. One of the members of the National People's Congress, a longstanding member from Gansu who had been around since the days of Chairman Mao, stood up to address the young general. "Comrade General, may I ask you how you were able to achieve this?" he asked. "Forgive me for being an old fool, but all this sounds impossible to me. I cannot remember there being a single instance in which an army did not lose one single soldier while fighting a battle. Can you explain to this old man how you were able to achieve such a thing?"

"I concur with the elder representative from Gansu," a female representative from Heilongjiang Province added. "And I believe that I speak for the rest of our fellow comrades in the National People's Congress when I say that we would all like to know how you have managed to keep safe the lives of our comrade soldiers."

"I am glad that you have asked me that question, comrades," Tan replied. "Because I can show you the answer right here and right now. Lieutenants, bring them in." Two PLA officers pushed a cargo trolley carrying some kind of large box covered in another white sheet into the Great Hall, and they brought it beside the speaker's podium, in the same place where Fu Qengdung had unveiled the diorama for Prehistoric World earlier. "Ladies and gentlemen, comrades, I must ask you not to scream," Tan said as he grabbed hold of the sheet. "It might provoke them!" He then hauled away the sheet, revealing a cage with thick steel bars underneath. Inside the cage was a dinosaur, similar in look and size to the InGen _Velociraptor_ but also somehow different in appearance and shape, and not just because it was covered in downy proto-feathers.

"What in the world is that thing, General Tan!" Yet another member of the National People's Congress, a young newcomer from Inner Mongolia, shouted at the general.

"This, comrades, is _Achillobator giganticus_ ," Tan said as the animal began to pace around its cage and snort at the people in the hall. It is a purely Chinese dinosaur, and its genome is based entirely on _Achillobator_ fossils and blood samples we have extracted from amber found in the Bayan Shireh Formation in Mongolia. You will find no frog, lizard or even human DNA in these dinosaurs. They are made purely from their own DNA, as they were supposed to be. The Americans were working with limited fossil and amber resources, hence why they resorted to using DNA from other animals to fill in the gaps. We are under no such limitations, ladies and gentlemen. And this is why our dinosaurs are better and more superior to those dinosaurs that International Genetics has produced."

"General, introducing us to a dinosaur is all well and good, of course," the representative from Inner Mongolia said once again. "But you haven't answered our question: how did you manage to not lose a single human life in putting down the rebellions in Tibet and Xinjiang?"

"This _Achillobator_ standing before you," Tan said, pointing at the caged dinosaur, who snorted in response, "is just one of a pack that our scientists have cloned and bred on special order from the People's Liberation Army. These dinosaurs are modified to be ruthless and heartless hunters. I do not mean genetic modification, no; these _Achillobators_ are already aggressive enough in and of themselves that any modification of their traits would be redundant and completely unnecessary. No, I am talking about physical modifications. If you can see here, on the skull of this _Achillobator_ , near the auditory meatus, there is an implant, similar to the ones that have been placed inside the brains of schizophrenic and psychopathic patients. This implant can, on my command, trigger the release of neurotransmitters in the _Achillobator_ 's brain that will tell it that it is hungry. My lieutenants and I will demonstrate how this works."

Tan took out a small remote control-like device from his pocket and pointed it at the caged _Achillobator_. He pressed a button in the middle of the device, and the _Achillobator_ recoiled its head and then began to snort and snarl. One of Tan's lieutenants then removed the assault rifle hanging from his shoulder and pointed it at one of the representatives nearest to the cage. "Do not worry, Comrade Jiang," Tan told the hapless representative, who looked like he was about to collapse under his seat. "The rifle itself is unarmed. You are in no danger at all."

Tan then nodded his head at the officer, who activated some sort of laser designator mounted on the side of the rifle's wooden foregrip. The _Achillobator_ stopped snarling and turned its attention to the laser dot coming out of the rifle and tracked its every movement. The officer then focused the dot on Jiang the representative. "Are you absolutely sure that I will not be killed by your little demonstration, General?" Jiang asked Tan.

"I assure you, Comrade Jiang, no harm shall befall you today," Tan replied. And then the officer pressed another button on the laser designator, and everyone in the hall heard a shrill buzzing cry emanating from the designator. Suddenly, the _Achillobator_ dashed forward in its cage and tried to run for the representative, but the thick steel bars were able to hold it back and in its cage. The impact was such that the cage actually shifted a few inches off of the trolley, but it held and the _Achillobator_ remained inside.

"By the spirits of the ancestors!" the representative cried out when the _Achillobator_ had tried to rush at him from inside its cage. "That is one terrible creature indeed!"

"The _Achillobators_ of the People's Liberation Army were specially trained to attack persons which have been marked by our specially designed laser designators," Tan said after the officer had turned off the shrill buzzing from his rifle's designator. "This first batch of _Achillobators_ completed their training just in time to respond to the insurrections in Xinjiang and Tibet. The People's Liberation Army Air Force dropped leaflets over the cities of Lhasa and Urumqi, where the rebellions have established their respective headquarters, and these leaflets told the civilian population to remain in their homes and lock their doors upon nightfall. Once reconnaissance flights from the Air Force and our own satellites have confirmed that the majority of persons still out and about in those aforementioned cities are all rebels and not civilians, the Third Artillery Corps brought the _Achillobators_ to those cities and then, after our soldiers were deployed inside the cities to mark the targets, we unleashed the _Achillobators_ upon the rebels. They did not even know what hit them. Not a single rebel was left alive. And I can now confidently say to you, comrades in the National People's Congress, that we have maintained the integrity of the People's Republic of China! No one shall dare try to rebel against us ever again, not as long as we have our _Achillobators_!"

The entire Great Hall of the People was silent as the representatives inside absorbed the words that General Tan had just said to them. And then, almost hesitantly, the same representative that Tan's officers had used for target practice for the demonstration of the _Achillobator_ 's capabilities stood up and began to clap his hands. The majority of the others in the Great Hall initially looked at him as if he had gone crazy but then, the female representative from Heilongjiang began to clap as well. Two representatives from Hebei and Shaanxi respectively then added their applause to the others, and then it was as if the floodgates of applause had been opened, and everyone else in the Great Hall began clapping as well.

"Thank you very much for your understanding, comrades," Tan Yuseng said, and then he walked away from the podium and followed his officers out of the Great Hall as they pushed the caged _Achillobator_ out with them.


	4. Walk-In

Whoever said that the life of a CIA officer would be exciting should be arrested, thought Gregory Malen as he topped up his mug of coffee for what had to be the thousandth time already. There was nothing remotely exciting about his first ever assignment as a CIA intelligence officer abroad, Malen raged inside his mind as he took a sip of the lukewarm coffee. This was very far from what he had expected life as a CIA officer would turn out to be. Granted, Malen had been influenced by the likes of Tom Clancy in terms of how he had imagined being a CIA officer would be, but still, even in the books and the movies, the day-to-day life of the CIA had been portrayed as been much more exciting than this. Those movies had got the blood flowing, but not real life.

Gregory Malen, after his graduation from the CIA's elite intelligence officer training program, known only as "The Farm," had been handed over to the State Department and given a position as a junior consular officer in the United States' consulate in Hong Kong. He had been told to expect this, and Malen had long ago accepted that officers fresh out of The Farm, unless they had displayed incredible and prodigious talent in the field of intelligence gathering, were more often than not assigned to work either in Langley or out in American embassies and consulates in so-called "friendly governments," nations that were very clearly allies of the United States (like the United Kingdom and Canada, for example). Because he was among one of the top twenty officers of his batch to go through The Farm, Malen was of the so-called "lucky few" who were immediately given an assignment to a foreign territory. Thanks to the luck of the draw, Malen had been assigned to the East Asia desk, but because he was still fresh out of The Farm, his first posting had been with the US consulate in Hong Kong. The reasoning that had been given to him was that because of rising economic tensions between the US and mainland China, a freshly-minted officer like him wouldn't, couldn't be assigned to the Beijing embassy because there was a risk that his inexperience could lead to his being outed by Chinese counterintelligence as a CIA officer. Sure, his status as a diplomatic officer would mean that the Chinese wouldn't be able to do anything to him, but getting rumbled, as the parlance was, by any local intelligence unit in the station of assignment for any officer was tantamount to putting a sign on his forehead that said, "I'm a spy!"

Gregory Malen was fine with that. In fact, part of him was glad that he was going to be assigned to Hong Kong for his first ever CIA assignment. He had always been fascinated with Hong Kong as a child and had dreamed of going there sometime, and now he was about to fulfill his childhood dream on the government's orders. What he wasn't fine with was the fact that intelligence gathering was much, much more boring than even the more conservative media portrayals had shown. And it didn't help that he was very much the junior officer in the CIA station in Hong Kong. Because he was the new guy, he had been given the job of gathering intelligence for the agency through the news and the media. While that may sound daunting, all that really entailed was that Malen would spend a lot of time cooped up in a room in the consulate far from the public offices surrounded by televisions tuned in to the local channels and local newspapers. At least they hadn't yet put him to work translating Mandarin and Cantonese just yet, Malen sighed as he settled back into his chair to keep an eye on the televisions.

The door to the room opened, and another man wearing a white shirt and a black tie walked in. "Afternoon, Max," Malen called out to the newcomer.

"Afternoon, Greg," Maximilian Andrews replied as he grabbed his own coffee mug and filled it up from the machine. "You already back to work so early?" he asked. "Did you even eat lunch yet?"

"Yeah, three spring rolls from the place down the road," Malen replied. "The spring rolls here are sure softer and less crunchier than the ones back home. And don't get me started on the sauce! Tangy doesn't exist in this place."

"Tell me about it, man," Andrews muttered as he sat down on the chair beside Malen. "So, anything interesting come up in the past few hours?"

"Nothing much, really. Well, they did show the Fox interview of that girl from the DPG, Dearing, and then there was a CNN interview with Ian Malcolm."

"You know, Greg," Andrews said, "I kind of understand why Langley would want us to keep an eye on any mention of dinosaurs in the Chinese media ever since Fu Qengdung and that General Tan announced that they've now cloned dinosaurs of their own. I really do. If I was in their place, I'd be worried too. But ever since they made that announcement, all I've ever heard from the news here are the reactions from the West about why it's a very bad idea. Everyone's basically saying the same thing, and frankly I'm getting tired of hearing it over and over again. Anyway, what did Dearing and Malcolm say?"

"Who do you want first? Claire Dearing or Ian Malcolm?"

"I don't know, man. Who comes to mind first?"

"Well, Malcolm was on Don Lemon," Malen said, "and they were talking about how making dinosaurs for the military was a very bad idea. Malcolm made some really good points. At first, he just repeated his points about how InGen shouldn't have brought the dinosaurs back in the first place, about how there was no way that we could possibly hope to control these creatures because they came from a time before there were ever any humans around for them to interact with. You know, the usual Malcolm stuff. Then Don said something about how humans have always used animals in warfare so the leap to militarized dinosaurs on China's part shouldn't have been a big surprise for all of us. And you know what Malcolm's reply was?"

"What did he say?" Andrews asked.

"Malcolm said that yes, humans have used animals in warfare, dogs and elephants being the primary examples. But the main difference between using a dog and a dinosaur is that the dog has had thousands of years to get used to a human giving it orders. 'The dinosaur has not had the same luxury,' end quote, and it's because of that that the dinosaur is more liable to bite off its handler's hand than the dog."

"I mean, you know, it makes a lot of sense," Andrews said. "We've had dogs with us for what? Thousands of years now? And we've only had dinosaurs for maybe two or three decades? It just doesn't compare. It just doesn't. But don't you think it's a little too late to be talking about this now, now that China already has weaponized dinosaurs? Why didn't he say anything in the meantime?"

"Well, how was he or anyone else supposed to know that China was planning this kind of shit anyway?" Malen asked. "Who knows how long China has kept this shit under wraps before that InGen scientist who defected to them arrived?"

"You know what this reminds me of?" Andrews asked back. "Remember that story that Mr. Clark told us while we were at the Farm? The thing about how the CIA was could not adapt quickly enough to a world without the Soviets, and because of that they only found out about Pakistan and India's nuclear tests on the news? I have a feeling we're going through the same thing. Anyway, how about Claire Dearing? What did she tell Fox?"

"The usual stuff," Malen replied. "The dinosaurs didn't ask to be brought back to life, but now that they're here, we might as well treat them like we would treat other animals. I mean, that's the gist of it. Dearing might have said some other things, and she and Tucker agreed on some points and disagreed on others, but other than that, you're not missing a lot more than what I've just told you."

""Wait, so Dearing was on Tucker Carlson? I think I feel sorry for her. You can't cuck the Tuck and all that," Andrews muttered.

"Come on, man, it was nothing like the times that Tucker Carlson's guests got crazy heated with him," Malen retorted. "Dearing was civil, and Tucker was civil, and while they agreed to disagree on some points about how we should deal with China's dinosaurs, none of them shouted over the other. Like I said, civil. Besides, this isn't some stupid SJW or libtard issue like culture appropriation or that kind of shit so this interview isn't going to make its way into those YouTube Tucker Carlson compilations you love to watch in the break room."

"Well, she might not think of it as an issue that could be politicized," Andrews said as he sipped coffee, "but I'm willing to bet you a hundred bucks that some other SJW out there is already thinking about how Chinese military dinosaurs could be lumped into the patriarchy or rape culture or racism. Heck, they might even form a new group about it. Dinosaur Lives Matter. It'll fit in with their modus operandi, after all."

"Okay, man, I know how you feel about these SJWs, but I think that was just a little bit too far," Malen told him.

"I don't care. I'm in the US Consulate in Hong Kong, meaning I'm still on US soil, meaning that the Constitution and more importantly the First Amendment still applies to me. I can say what I want, just as they can say what they want, which includes claiming that they're being suppressed, which is honestly one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. Dang it, I think that rant just made me thirsty," Andrews muttered, looking down at his now empty mug. "Want a refill too?" he asked Malen.

"No, I'm good," Malen replied, shaking his head. "I'll just get it myself."

Andrews stood up to top up his mug with more lukewarm coffee. "Hey, so I only found out about this like a few days ago," he said, "but apparently there's a football team here in Hong Kong?"

"Dude, you're surprised at that?" Malen asked in reply. "Every place in the world loves soccer. Only we Americans love our own style of football."

"No, man, I'm not talking about a football-as-in-soccer team," Andrews replied. "I'm talking about an actual, legitimate American football team. With the pads and the helmets and the downs and the concussion protocols and shit."

"What? No way! What are they called?"

"All right, are you prepared for this? The Hong Kong Combat Orcas," Andrews said as he retook his seat beside Malen. "And it's not just one team. China has a whole American football league, with teams in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and the Combat Orcas here in Hong Kong."

"Wait, you're not kidding?" Malen asked, not really believing his ears. "There really is a team called the Combat Orcas?"

"Well, they sure ain't the Dolphins," Andrews replied. "Unfortunately though, looks like they might be just as bad as the Browns. Oh, who am I kidding? No team could ever be as bad as the Browns. But I think the Combat Orcas finished bottom of their division, so that's kind of a bad thing as well."

"All right, Max, while it's all well and good to find out that there's actually some football teams over here in Hong Kong, why are you telling me this? I assume there's a reason why you're telling me this."

"I know how you love your football and all, man," Andrews replied. "That's why we became bros, right?"

Malen nodded his head. Andrews was right, after all. It was their common interest in football that had sparked off the friendship between the two when they had first met each other during training at the Farm. "But still, man, why are you telling me this?" he persisted.

"Denny Liu over in Visas managed to get some tickets to the first Combat Orcas game of the coming season," Andrews replied. "He knows how much we love our football so he thought he'd give us some of the tickets so we can have our football fix."

"Well, that was nice of him," Malen said. "I just hope it doesn't conflict with the NFL. I just found out the schedule and when the games are broadcast here. I wouldn't miss those for anything in the world."

At that moment, the telephone beside Malen's main console rang. The caller ID indicated that the call was coming from within the embassy, specifically the front desk. He picked it up and said, "Malen."

"Greg? I need you to clear up some space at the Zulu Room," a CIA officer who was also assigned to the agency's Station Hong Kong and who was Malen's senior in terms of both rank and time with the company, said at the other end of the line. "I've got a very unexpected guest coming your way. Unfortunately for you and your buddy Andrews, you're the only two officers I can spare at the moment to debrief him, so even though I know that this is probably way above your pay grade right now, handle this well and maybe Langley will take notice and bump you two up."

"Yes, sir," Malen replied, but the line had already gone dead. He replaced the telephone in its cradle even as Andrews asked him, "Who was it, man?"

"It was Caulderfield," Malen replied. "I think we just got ourselves a walk-in."

"Okay, man, now is not the time to play that prank with me," Andrews said. "We ain't gonna get ourselves assigned to a walk-in this early. Not when we're being made to watch hours of Chinese news and TV shows for any mention of dinosaurs."

"Well, Caulderfield says that we're the only two guys that he can spare to deal with this guy. I guess that this means that we better get the Zulu Room ready."

Malen and Andrews headed out of the first room with the television screens and then walked down the hallway to a room that was unmarked and would have looked like any other ordinary room in the consulate except for the Marine guard standing right in front of the double wooden doors. "How's it hanging, Wayne?" Andrews asked the guard.

"Doing fine, sir," the Marine replied. Malen and Andrews handed over their IDs to the guard, who checked against a small list that he had in front of him. "You're cleared," he said once he had confirmed that both Malen and Andrews were on the list, and he turned around and unlocked the doors with a key.

"Thanks, Wayne," Andrews said as he patted the Marine's shoulder and went into the room.

"Oh, and Caulderfield might send someone down this way," Malen informed the guard. "You might want to inform us when he gets here."

"Will do, sir," the Marine guard nodded, and then Malen followed Andrews inside. The room known only as Zulu Room was for all intents and purposes a secure bunker within and underneath the consulate. The double wooden doors actually opened up to a short hallway which ended at a reinforced door not unlike that used in bank vaults. Andrews had already unlocked this door through an access keypad, and Andrews waited as Malen walked the short distance between doors. Once they were on the other side of the vault door, Andrews pulled it closed and engaged the locking mechanism. Malen turned on the lights and examined Zulu Room. It was basically a carbon copy of the room that the two CIA agents had just left down to the tables and chairs, the only difference being that there were only four flatscreen monitors mounted on the wall facing the vault door.

"So how do you want to do this, bro?" Andrews asked.

"Well, Caulderfield said that our guest is a walk-in so there's no need for the cocktails and the restraints," Malen replied. "Just set up a few chairs in the middle as well as a table or two. We might need to write down some of the things he'll tell us."

"Coffee or tea?"

"Both, just to be safe."

"Want anything to go with that?"

"Bread's fine," Malen replied.

"And that's it," Andrews said. "That's Zulu Room prepped. Now we just have to wait for our guest."

It seemed as if he had barely just completed that sentence before one of the phones in Zulu Room rang. "Andrews," the agent said as he picked it up. "Good. I'm picking him up now." He put the phone back down and told Malen, "Our guest is here." Andrews then opened the vault door and went out. Malen held the door open until Andrews had returned with their "guest", who turned out to be an elderly Chinese man who appeared to be in his sixties or seventies.

"Have a seat, sir," Malen said after they had exchanged bows of greeting. The man nodded his head as he settled himself into a folding metal chair. "Would you mind introducing yourself to us, sir?" Malen asked him. "For the record, of course," he added as he made a show of turning on an audio recorder. Everything said inside Zulu Room was already being recorded as soon as Andrews had unlocked the vault door but Malen felt that letting their "guest" know that their conversation was being recorded was a good way of opening up the dialogue between them.

"I am Dr. Chu Peixin," the man replied. "And I wish to offer my body of knowledge to the United States of America."

"And what exactly is in your body of knowledge, Dr. Chu?" Andrews asked.

"I am a member of the Scientific Research and Application Group of the Third Artillery Corps of the People's Liberation Army," Chu replied. "Or at least I used to be until I was removed from my post about six or seven months ago, around the same time that Premier Fu Qengdung and General Tan Yuseng announced that they have successfully bred dinosaurs for use in combat as well as their own purposes. To answer your question, American, my body of knowledge consists of the entire process by which the People's Liberation Army has acquired the knowledge of the process to create these dinosaurs, as well as Premier Fu's plans for these dinosaurs."

* * *

A/N: If you could leave a review after reading this, I would really appreciate it. It only takes a minute of your time. Thanks! - GR


	5. Eye to Eye

Fong Xiaofeng stared at his opponent right in the eye, who stared right back at him with an equally steely-eyed glare. His breathing, while a little bit faster than that of a regular person at rest, was still steady and composed. The object in his hand bounced up and down on the wooden floor with a rhythm as measured as Fong's heartbeat. He was aware that he only had a limited amount of time to make his next move, but he also had to observe the field of view in front of him so that he could plan ahead to the next few moves. His opponents, while they were not too predictable, also had a tendency to change up things in ways that Fong would sometimes struggle to deal with. But he also believed that he could overcome any difficulties that his opponents could throw his way.

And then Fong noticed that his teammate had managed to create some space, an opening, for him, and he decided to take the chance and strike now.

Fong took one step to the left, drawing the opponent guarding him in that direction. Once he felt that his opponent was fully committed in going to the left, Fong pivoted to the right and blew right past his guard. He then faked a pass to the teammate that had opened up the space that had made Fong move in the first place, and then Fong turned on the jets and ran for his target, the foremost and only thing on his mind. It was the only thing that mattered to him. Fong jumped, and then he tossed the basketball into the net for an easy lay-up.

The small crowd inside the gymnasium where the game was taking place cheered loudly as Fong converted his lay-up, and he gladly accepted the congratulatory high-fives from his teammates. The public announcement system squealed for a moment, and then the announcer said, "Two points for your Hong Kong Police Service!"

"You got lucky on that play, old man," Piao Ruozhong, the player who had been guarding Fong for the play that had led to the lay-up, said to the Hong Kong native. "You're lucky you've still got the legs to run around. You know what, I'm actually surprised that you didn't break your own ankles with that ankle breaker."

"Who are you calling an old man, old man?" Fong retorted. "Let's see you do better, Ruozhong."

"Is that a challenge, Xiaofeng?" Piao smirked. "Watch me."

Piao received the ball from his point guard and began to drive into Fong's defense. Piao backed Fong right up to the top of the key before he backed off a little. Piao did his own survey of the court, making Fong think that Piao was planning a pass. And then Piao jumped up, cocked back his hands and shot the ball from beyond the three-point arc. The move took Fong by surprise so much that the Hong Kong native didn't even bother to throw up a hand to attempt to block the shot.

The ball flew in a parabola, going and then down before finally sinking towards the basket. All this time the clock was winding down to zero, and both men knew that this was going to be the final play of the game. The ball finally flew through the net with barely a swish at the same time that the buzzer sounded, and Piao allowed himself the satisfaction of pumping his fist in celebration.

"Three point for Macau Police," the stadium announcer said somberly. Then in a more chipper voice, he continued, "And that is the end of the game. Final score: Hong Kong Police Service 99, Macau Police 96."

"So this is you doing better, Ruozhong?" Fong asked. "Saving your game-winning three-point shot when you're six points down?"

"But you weren't expecting it, were you?" Piao countered.

"Oh, well. There's always next year."

"He says as his team proceeds to lose the rest of the games and another team actually wins the Pearl River Cup," Piao continued.

Everyone involved like to say that their tournament was just a friendly one, and that there was no competition involved in it at all. But for the members of the Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen police services, especially the ones who were playing for their respective departments' basketball teams, the Pearl River Delta Police Services Basketball Cup was very serious business indeed. Especially for the Hong Kong Police Service and Macau Police teams, who have been the only two teams in the entire history of the tournament to win it, and even more so for Fong Xiaofeng, who had led Hong Kong to three Pearl River Cups under his captaincy. Piao Ruozhong was his opposite number for Macau, and Piao had himself captained Macau to three Pearl River Cups of his own.

But despite the seeming rivalry between them, Fong and Piao were actually very good friends. Admittedly their friendship began because of their rivalry in the Pearl River Cup, but it was through their rivalry that their friendship became what it was. Both saw any win by the other as just another opportunity to improve themselves and make sure that it was he who would win next time.

"Well, that's the game done," Fong said as he and Piao began to walk back to the locker rooms. "Do you want to drive back to the station, drink some coffee, reminisce? Actually, I just remembered. There's going to be protests over at the Causeway later tonight, and I have to be there supervising the troops lest one of them gets an itchy trigger finger and makes things worse than it already is."

"I feel bad for you, Xiaofeng," Piao said. "I don't want to say anything, but things certainly feel much more different over here than back in Macau. I mean, we've never had anything like the umbrella protests back home, but then again, I don't think we liked the Portuguese as much as you Hong Kongers do the British."

"That's just exaggeration," Fong retorted. "But why have this 'One Nation, Two Systems' policy when the plan was always to turn Hong Kong into a miniature, offshore, and richer Beijing?"

"Don't let anyone else hear you say those words," Piao cautioned him. "Yes, we might be in Hong Kong right now, but as you have seen before, Beijing has eyes and ears all over, even here."

Thirty minutes later, both Fong and Piao were in Fong's official car, and Fong was about to drive out of the stadium's parking lot when the two of them saw a column of large military-grade trucks and armored vehicles rolling down the road. "What in the world!?" Piao exclaimed. "What is the damned military doing here now?"

"By the ancestors, it's finally happened," Fong muttered. "Beijing's finally cracking down on the protestors themselves. The police aren't enough now. I knew this was going to happen eventually." It was an event that Fong had privately hoped would never happen, but he knew that he should have known better than to hope that the mainland would leave Hong Kong alone, not when Beijing was asserting itself not only in the region but as a global superpower as well.

"Hang on though," Piao said. "They don't appear to be headed for the Causeway. It looks like they're actually headed for the police HQ. But why would they go there?"

"Maybe the HKPS is finally getting subsumed into the People's Liberation Army," Fong spat. "I have to know what's going on here."

"You're going to follow the Army? Are you serious?" Piao asked him.

"It's the only way," Fong replied, and he put the car into gear and began following the last olive-green army vehicle in the convoy. Piao shifted in his seat as the machine gunner turned around and aimed his weapon at the car even though the Macau native knew that it was only regular Army protocol, in case the vehicle following the convoy was indeed an attacker. Fong followed the convoy all the way to the headquarters of the Hong Kong Police Service, a large and tall skyscraper that fit in with the rest of its surroundings. The army convoy descended into the headquarters' basement parking lots, and Fong and Piao passed by some of these army vehicles as Fong drove to his reserved parking spot. They noticed that the vehicles were indeed flying the battle flag of the People's Liberation Army and that the number 62 had been painted on the sides of both the trucks and the armored personnel carriers.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Fong asked as he and Piao got out of the car. They couldn't look at the soldiers too long because this would get the soldiers' attention, and that would only lead to nasty complications down the line. Fong and Piao took the stairs up to the headquarters itself, but before they could even get to Fong's department in the higher floors, they were forced to stop in the lobby because of what they saw there. "What in the world is going on?" Fong asked once again as he walked towards the lobby.

A large number of police officers, both uniformed and in plainclothes, easily numbering at least fifty according to Fong's quick estimate, were standing in the middle of the lobby, and they were all facing a tall thin man in gray fatigues who appeared to be giving some sort of speech. A line of soldiers with holstered sidearms on their hips and thighs stood behind the man, hands behind their back. Fong Xiaofeng made to approach the tall man, but he found his path stopped by another soldier who appeared to be about Fong's height but much younger in age. "I'm sorry, comrade, but I'm afraid you cannot talk to the Comrade Colonel right now," the soldier said.

"Soldier, I am Captain Fong Xiaofeng of the Hong Kong Police Service, officer in charge of the Admiralty and Causeway districts," Fong replied heatedly. "I demand a meeting with your commanding officer immediately!"

"I am afraid that that is impossible at the moment, Comrade Captain," the soldier replied. "The Comrade Colonel is busy giving instructions to your fellow comrade police officers in preparation for tonight's protests. Right now, you may address your questions and concerns to me."

"And who might you be?" Piao asked him.

"I am Captain Jian Yiyang, second-in-command of Unit 62 of the Third Artillery Corps of the People's Liberation Army and aide-de-camp to Colonel Guan Xinshan, commander of Unit 62. And you are…?"

"Captain Piao Ruozhong of the Macau Police. Just what exactly is the People's Liberation Army doing here in Hong Kong? Does Beijing not have any confidence in the Hong Kong police with regards to dealing with the protesters?"

"It is not a matter of confidence from Beijing or anywhere else, Comrade Captain," Jian replied. "It is something very different entirely. And I could ask you the same question that you asked me, Captain. What exactly is a captain of the Macau Police doing here in Hong Kong?"

"I do not know why I have to explain my presence here in Hong Kong to the likes of you," Piao replied, "but since you have asked, here is my answer. I am here as part of yearly joint training exercises between the police services of Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Is that a good enough answer for you?"

"Ah, yes, now I remember," Jian said, nodding his head. "The esteemed Pearl River Delta Basketball Cup. Tell me, Captain, who is favorite to win the tournament this time around?"

"Why, you little…!" Piao exclaimed, but Fong put a strong and firm arm across Piao's abdomen to stop the Macau policeman from charging the PLA officer. "You haven't answered the question, Captain," Fong told Jian. "What is the PLA doing here in Hong Kong? Surely it must have something to do with the coming protests."

"You are correct in that particular regard, Comrade Captain," Jian replied. "But as for the details, I am afraid only Colonel Guan has the clearance to discuss that particular matter, and I don't think _you_ are cleared for any discussion about it as well."

"That snobbish prick," Piao Ruozhong said once he and Fong Xiaofeng had walked away from the group of police officers being addressed by the PLA officers. "Who does he think he is, waving his dick and balls around and acting like he owns the place? I'm willing to bet that that Jian asshole is the son of some Communist Party bureaucrat in Harbin or Manchukuo or Inner Mongolia who needs to not have his party indoctrination go to waste by rotting in his backwards shithole county or province or wherever."

"Will you calm down and shut your mouth for even just a moment, Ruozhong?" Fong asked. "Now I know you don't like the recent heavy-handedness from Beijing as much as I do, but will it hurt you not to talk about it in front of a goddamned officer of the People's Liberation Army? And a young and upstart one at that! I bet you're thinking that that stick of celery Jian is just waiting for an opportunity to report on us to his colonel! Well, stop thinking those thoughts and try to cooperate with the bastards at least once in your life! If we have to arrest or even shoot at a protester then so be it! Better them than us, yes?"

Before Piao could reply, a loud and sleazy voice called out, "Captain Fong Xiaofeng?" Fong closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and turned around to face the newcomer. "Yes, it is I," he replied. "How may I help you?"

"I am Colonel Guan Xinshan of Unit 62 of the Third Artillery Corps of the People's Liberation Army," the officer replied. "My young Captain Jian tells me that you would like to know what the People's Liberation Army is doing here in Hong Kong. Is that true?"

"Yes, it is," Fong nodded. "And Captain Jian has told _me_ that I should address all of my concerns about your operations to you."

"Yes, you are correct about that as well," Guan nodded. "Follow me, Captain Fong. What I am about to discuss with you is a matter of national security. It can only be discussed in a properly secured location. Once we get there though, we can talk freely about this… assignment."

"If you will follow the Comrade Colonel, Comrade Captain," Jian said, extending his hand in front of him to indicate where Fong should go. Fong looked at Piao, who shrugged his shoulders and kept quiet, and Fong shook his head and followed Guan back down into the basement parking, where they and Jian went into a heavily-armored command truck guarded by at least four PLA soldiers. These soldiers saluted as Guan walked towards them, and then once the colonel and Fong had entered the truck's command center, Jian barked at them to resume their guard and patrol routines.

"Have a seat, Captain, be comfortable," Guan offered Fong as the two of them entered the command center. It was cramped, with both sides filled with electronics and communications equipment that could help an officer and his staff fight and coordinate a battle. Guan quietly asked the comms officer manning the radio to vacate his seat, and the officer nodded and left not only his seat but the truck itself. Fong sat down on a chair beside a board with a map of Hong Kong pinned on it.

"Now Captain Jian has told me that you and your friend Captain Piao wanted to know what we, the Army, are doing here in Hong Kong right now," Guan began, and Fong nodded his head. "Let me get one thing clear, Captain: yes, this is very much about the protests that are about to happen on the Causeway in… three hours' time," Guan said as he looked at his watch. "I am sure you already know how Premier Fu Qengdung feels about the status of this Special Administrative Region."

"Yes, Fu wants to scrap the 'One Nation, Two Systems' policy and make both Hong Kong and Macau Communist like the mainland," Fong replied. "He may not have said it directly but it's very clear that this is the direction that he wants to take. Fu Qengdung wants to make China, as big as we already are, even bigger. He's already done it in the South China Sea, forcing Vietnam and the Philippines out of the Spratly Islands. I know that Fu has his eyes on Taiwan as well, and that he would bring the renegade province back into the fold if he could get away with it. And with the way things are shaping up for the PLA under Fu and his friend Tan Yuseng, that possibility is really not that far off."

Guan let out a low and short chuckle. "Is that really what you think of our Comrade Premier Fu?" he asked Fong.

"It's not what I think about Fu, it's what everyone knows about Fu," Fong replied. "And he hates Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters with a vengeance. He just cannot accept or even imagine that there might be people out there who might not like the way Fu is running this country. And no one in Hong Kong certainly likes him infringing on the very things that we in the Special Administrative Regions have to come to know and love."

"Well, that is your opinion, and you are certainly entitled to it," Guan nodded. "As long as you do not make it known to anyone else. Consider yourself lucky though, Captain Fong, that I am only a mere colonel in the People's Liberation Army and not assigned in any capacity to the Ministry of State Security; otherwise you would already have found yourself in handcuffs. But enough about that. We are here to talk about coordinating our respective efforts to control the coming protests on the Causeway."

"And by control, I take it that you actually mean suppress," Fong said.

"Once again, it is your opinion and you are entitled to it, and once again consider yourself lucky that I am not from the MSS," Guan repeated. "What I wish to discuss is simple: the People's Liberation Army wishes to make a statement to all of the destructive and freeloading members of Chinese society that any attempt on their part to spread their lies and deceit will be met with the utmost action and resistance from us. Now, as I'm sure you know, the People's Liberation Army is not allowed to perform any sort of operation, military or civilian, in Hong Kong unless there is a situation that requires the army's assistance..."

"And you wish to engineer such a situation using the pro-democracy protesters, is that it?" Fong asked heatedly.

"Oh, heavens, no, Captain," Guan said with a harsh shake of his head. "That is the sort of crass and uncouth thing that an African or South American dictator would do. The Chinese people is surely above such barbarities. No, we only need to strike fear in the hearts of the protesters. We need to ensure that there is a healthy amount of fear in the protesters so that they know what it is that they should do with themselves and their time instead of wasting it in an effort that everyone knows will be futile in the end."

Fong could only shake his head in wonder and amazement. This was truly incredible, he thought to himself. Here was an officer of the People's Liberation Army openly admitting to a Hong Kong police officer that there was very much a plan to forcibly integrate the former British colony into the mainland's oppressive Communist system. And the colonel had also managed to imply a threat to Fong's own freedom not once but twice. He knew that he should do something to stop this, but he also knew that if he refused Guan's demands (for that was what they were, demands, despite everything the colonel might say to the contrary) then Fong would simply be taken out of the picture entirely and someone else who was more receptive to Guan's orders would be made to make the decision. This way, Fong would know what was going on inside the army camp as opposed to if he was removed or even imprisoned by the MSS.

"Very well then, Colonel," Fong said with a sigh. "What is it that you want the Hong Kong Police Service to do?"

"Thank you for your cooperation, Captain," Guan said with a greasy smile. "The People's Liberation Army very much appreciates it. Now, to answer your question, it is actually just a rather simple matter. As you may already know, Comrade General Tan Yuseng of the Third Artillery Corps has just demonstrated a very powerful new weapon to the National People's Congress. The Premier has ordered the General to test this new weapon on the protesters, but since the People's Liberation Army is not allowed to operate inside Hong Kong, the responsibility of wielding these new weapons falls upon the shoulders of the Hong Kong Police Service."

At this, Fong actually snorted. "You have got to be kidding me!" he exclaimed.

"Oh, Captain, I wish I was indeed kidding you, but everything that I have told you is unfortunately true," Guan replied. He said it in a sad tone, but Fong knew that it was just an act on the part of the Army colonel. "Follow me, and I will show you these new weapons."

Fong did as Guan told him as he didn't really have a choice. The policeman followed the Army officer out of the command truck and back into the basement parking lot, where Fong noticed for the first time that another truck had arrived. Another line of soldiers guarded this truck, but Fong saw in their faces that these soldiers were more afraid of what they were actually protecting as opposed to any unauthorized person attempting to get too close to the truck. And it didn't help that Fong could hear snorting and scrabbling noises coming from inside the newly arrived truck.

"You have got to be kidding me," Fong Xiaofeng repeated, and this time he also shook his head at the sheer madness of the whole situation.


	6. Call

Helga Gracie was tired, plain and simple. Her eyes were tired, her body was tired, her mind was tired, her very soul was tired. If she had to read one more sentence filled with grammatical errors that would make her grammar teachers wail and gnash their teeth then she would smash her head into her desk until she bled or her skull cracked under the immense pressure. This was the exact thing that she had dreaded about becoming an adult and part of the working force, the very thing that had made her decide that she was going to apply to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service immediately after her graduation from university. Helga hated paperwork, plain and simple. She hated the idea of being stuck in a desk job and doing the same things over and over again until she was finally old enough to retire. And yet that was exactly what had happened to her. Sure, she was doing it in the name of Canadian national security, and she was doing it in an exotic place called Hong Kong, but it was still a desk job doing menial labor. Add to that the fact that Chinese to English translations were notorious for the English text to completely or hilariously miss the point of the original Chinese, and Helga Gracie's brain was practically throbbing from all the dullness and stupidity that she had had to endure.

So when the telephone on her desk began to ring, Helga quickly and immediately picked it up. Even if it was just her superior calling to ask her about the status of her work, it would still add a little bit of variety to her dreary life as a Canadian consulate desk jockey. "Gracie," she said into the phone's mouthpiece.

"Calling from Echo Uniform Sierra," a familiar voice said at the other end. "Please confirm that your line is secure."

"Please hold," Gracie replied automatically even as her eyes widened in surprise and recognition. She knew exactly what the caller meant when he said those words, and she knew that things were about to get less boring for her. Helga immediately pushed a variety of buttons on her telephone and then typed in a few commands into her computer. She waited for the progress bar on her monitor to fill up before she returned to the telephone and said, "Line secure confirmed."

"Great," Maximilian Andrews replied. "So, Helga, are you and Demi available for a double date tonight?"

"What? Max, are you serious?" Helga asked, her earlier excitement now gone and replaced by a creeping sense of disappointment and shattered hope. "Are you seriously using the secure line to ask me and Demi out on a date?"

"I mean, yes, that is true from a certain point of view," Andrews said. "But I'm not actually talking about a date night here. Can you two come down to the consulate tonight? Greg and I just got a walk-in, a very big fish by the look of things."

"Really? That kind of thing still happens today?" Helga asked in reply. "Okay, sure, I'll accept that. But why Demi and me? Don't you have other workmates there who can help you out?"

"It's not that simple actually. Our walk-in wants to be evacuated out of Hotel Kilo Golf ASAP, and he's told us that he's got relatives living in Yankee Victor Romeo…"

"…which is why you're asking for our help in getting him out," Gracie continued. "All right, Max, fine. What do you want us to do?"

"Come down to our place in… let's say fifteen to thirty minutes," Andrews replied. "That should give you girls enough time to prettify yourselves for our little date. We all know how long you girls can take to get ready while we guys have to sit on our thumbs and wait for the creeping embrace of death."

"Very funny, Max. Okay, Demi and I will be there in fifteen minutes."

"It's a date then," Andrews said, and then he hung up the phone and ended the call.

"What's this I hear about you and I going to the US consulate for a date?" a woman with pale skin, dark brown eyes, and sleek black hair asked Gracie as she stood up to peek over to her coworker's table. Demetria Shoemaker ("Demi" for short), was like Helga Gracie a desk jockey, a pencil pusher for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service in the Canadian consulate in Hong Kong. She wasn't as mind-numbingly bored about her job as Grace was, but she also craved a little bit of variety and mixing-up in her day-to-day life from time to time. "I overheard my name being spoken, and I also heard you talking to Max Andrews. What does he want from us this time?" she asked Gracie.

"Apparently someone just walked into the US consulate and defected to them," Helga replied. "Max says the guy wants out of Hong Kong ASAP, and that they plan to send him over to Vancouver because apparently the guy's got relatives there."

"Okay, I get that," Shoemaker said, nodding her head. "But why us? Why couldn't he just asked for our help through official channels? Why did he have to call us through the private line?"

"How would I know?" Gracie shrugged. "I'm not in their little Zulu Room with them. But maybe we can find out if we go there and ask them. If we go now, we can be there in…" She consulted her wristwatch. "Twenty minutes or so," she concluded.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Shoemaker exclaimed. "It's not like I'm doing anything to ensure the national security of Canada right now," she said, referring to her own pile of Chinese to English translations and works.

"Touché," Gracie muttered as the two women stood up from their desks, shut down and locked their computers, and clocked out of their department. The American consulate was just up the road from the Canadian one and within walking distance as well, and the usual high volume of foot traffic on the road to the US consulate had surprisingly gone down, meaning that Gracie and Shoemaker were able to get to the consulate earlier than the twenty minutes that Gracie had anticipated. They breezed through the usual security checks by only showing their Canadian consulate IDs to the guards, and both Gracie and Shoemaker knew that Andrews and Gregory Malen must have already cleared them through.

"There you are, ladies," Maximilian Andrews said as he saw the two women in the lobby of the consulate. "Come with me; I'll get you all acquainted with our guest." Andrews then walked with the two towards an elevator which was located away from the main bank of elevators for use by both visitors and regular staff. Andrews inserted a keycard into a slot on the place where the up and down buttons would usually be and waited for a green light to come to life above the slot. The elevator slid open, and Andrews, Gracie, and Shoemaker stepped inside. There was no pad to let the occupants choose their destination floor, just another keycard slot, into which Andrews placed his to get the elevator moving.

"So what's so special about your walk-in that you called us in to help you get him out of here pronto?" Shoemaker asked once the elevator doors had slid closed and it began to descend.

"The dude is from the Third Artillery Corps of the PLA," Andrews replied. "It's the branch that handles all sorts of… unconventional warfare for the Chinese Army. Except for nukes. That one's under the purview of their Rocket Force. But I digress. This guy, Dr. Chu, he's a literal treasure trove of knowledge of all the shit that China's been trying to pull since, well, forever. And he's been spilling the beans to us as soon as he arrived. Guy just can't stop talking; he's got that much to say about the Third Arty. Chemicals, toxins, viruses, bacteria; you name it, he was part of it at least once in his life. But the thing that's really got Langley's tails up is that this guy is right from the heart of China's dinosaur cloning program."

"Dinosaurs?" Gracie repeated. "You mean like actual living and breathing dinosaurs? Like the ones from Jurassic World, except they're, well, Chinese?"

"You got that right, Hell," Andrews nodded, referring to Gracie by a nickname that she had always found embarrassing, but which only made Andrews love to use it even more around her. "Apparently, one of InGen's scientists decided to take all of his knowledge to Beijing after Jurassic World went to shit, and that helped them accelerate their own dinosaur cloning project until they've sufficiently advanced to a point where they believe that they can clone dinosaurs that will follow human commands. And our walk-in says China's already used these dinosaurs to take care of their problems in Tibet and Xinjiang."

"Oh, my God," Shoemaker muttered, covering her mouth with her hand. "Imagine if the trade war between you guys and China escalates into a real one. If China unleashes an army of battle dinosaurs, what's gonna stop them from ravaging America?"

"Come on now, guys, let's be real," Andrews said. "Our president is a businessman. I'm sure he knows how far he can push the Chinese without escalating to a real war." The elevator dinged, and they stepped out into the hallway leading to Zulu Room. The Marine guard was still standing in front of the double wooden doors as the trio approached him. "Thanks for holding down the fort, Wayne," Andrews told him. "I've got two guests with me. Ladies, if you'll give Wayne here your IDs…"

Gracie and Shoemaker handed over their identification cards to the guard, who compared the names on them to the ones on the list that he had used to confirm Andrews and Malen's identities from earlier. "You're both cleared, ma'am," he told them, and he nodded his head and unlocked the doors.

"Thanks, bro," Andrews told him. "I owe you one!" He and the two women from the Canadian consulate then entered the hallway leading to the vault door that opened into the actual Zulu Room. Andrews punched in his personal entrance code and waited for the door to swing open.

"…the technology to control the dinosaurs is both simple and sophisticated," the silky and well-mannered voice of Chu Peixin filtered in from the inside of Zulu Room as the vault door swung open. "Immediately after hatching, surgeons implanted electrodes into the dinosaurs' brains that could stimulate or suppress areas of their brains related to hunger. A remote control device held by their handler then controls whether the dinosaurs feel hunger or not. The dinosaurs are then taught to attack a target by means of a laser which is pointed at the target in question…" He trailed off as he noticed the arrival of the newcomers.

"Ah, finally, you're here," Gregory Malen said to the three. "Dr. Chu here was just telling me about how the PLA trains their attack dinosaurs. Dr. Chu, you've already met my associate Mr. Andrews. These two women with him are Helga Gracie and Demi Shoemaker. Helga is the short brunette and Demi is the only very slightly taller member of the Addams family. They're both from the Canadian Consulate General."

"How do you do, Doctor?" Gracie asked after Chu and the two women had bowed to each other.

"Very well, thank you," Chu nodded as he retook his seat. "I was just explaining to your American friends how the People's Liberation Army trains its new attack dinosaurs by means of the Pavlovian method."

"Of course, sir," Shoemaker said. "So, Mr. Andrews tells us that you wish to be evacuated from Hong Kong immediately. Is that correct?"

"Yes," Chu nodded again. "My absence at the Third Artillery Corps' headquarters will surely be noticed. I have given myself a window of opportunity in which to leave the sovereign territory of the People's Republic of China without my superiors' knowledge but, as with all windows, I fear that it will soon swing shut on me. I need to get away from Hong Kong as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir, we know," Shoemaker continued. "We've also been told that you wish to be evacuated to Vancouver because you have relatives there. Correct?"

"Yes. My sister and her family migrated to Canada after the debacle at Tiananmen. However, I do not intend this to be a permanent stop; I know how the PLA works. Once they realized that I have disappeared, they will send agents of their own to my sister to watch if I will visit her and let her know about my arrival in Canada. I cannot risk the lives of my sister and her family like, and this is why I have to get out Hong Kong immediately, so I can visit her before the PLA realizes that I'm gone."

"Of course, yes, definitely," Shoemaker nodded her head. "Now if you'll just give me her address, then maybe I can help expedite things for you. I have to warn you though, Doctor, these things take an awful lot of time to be processed and I cannot guarantee that there will be a swift response—"

"Hey, guys, are you seeing this?" Gracie's voice suddenly called out. "Are you watching this? What the hell is going on there?"

"Whatcha talking about, Hell?" Andrews asked her. Gracie pointed at one of the open TV monitors on the wall of Zulu Room. Andrews picked up one remote control out of a dozen and increased the volume of the television. It appeared to be a news report on a globally recognized news network, and it appeared to be coming live from Causeway Park itself.

"I don't know if you can clearly see what's going on behind me, Kristie," the reporter said to the anchor, "but vehicles with the markings of the People's Liberation Army have just appeared behind the line of Hong Kong Police who are blocking the protesters from making their way to the Convention Center. And now the police are making way for this big truck, some sort of semi-trailer, driving down the road towards the protesters. The police are backing off, and the protesters look like they don't know what to do now; they probably weren't expecting this. We weren't expecting this as well. Now soldiers appeared to have replaced the police with regards to blocking off the protesters, and the truck has come to a stop as well. The trailer looks like one of those trailers used to transport horses and other animals but there aren't any bars that allow you to see through the trailer and inside. The trailer is being opened, and… oh, my God! Are you getting this, Kristie? The Army is bringing out dinosaurs against these pro-democracy protesters! Oh my, it looks like there might be truth to those rumors that the People's Liberation Army has used dinosaurs against insurgents in Tibet, and now it looks like these dinosaurs are about to be unleashed on these protesters!"

"Oh, my God." Helga Gracie and Max Andrews turned around and saw that Chu Peixin was looking bleakly at the monitor with the live news feed. "They found me. I don't know how, but they found me. And quicker than I had anticipated too!" he muttered, almost to himself. "I have to get out of here! I have to get out of here now!" he demanded.

"Doctor, please stay right where you are," Gregory Malen asked him. "There's no need to panic, sir. We're perfectly safe right where we are. Those dinosaurs will not be able to get through all of our defensive and protective layers. And we have enough food and supplies stocked in here to last the five of us an entire year."

"No! You don't understand! You Americans never do!" Chu screamed, the once-serene scientist now looking on the verge of a mental breakdown. "It's not about those dinosaurs getting through into this, this vault! This is about the PLA sending a message! It's sending me a message! They're telling me that they've found me and that they will get me back no matter where I am!"

"I mean, surely not," Max Andrews countered. "The PLA aren't going to send troops or dinosaurs into the US consulate, are they? If they do, that's tantamount to them declaring war on us!"

"Think again, young man," Chu told him. "You've already seen how the Army deployed their dinosaurs on live television to be seen by millions upon billions of people around the world. They don't care about political and diplomatic niceties anymore. Those dinosaurs you see out there; they're not really here for the protesters. They're for me. And they're telling me that they will stop at nothing to bring me back to the Third Artillery Corps! Now either you get me out of here now, or I will do it myself!"

"Let's be calm and rational about this, Doctor, please," Malen continued. "You're not thinking straight right now. You don't want to get out there, dinosaur or not. If what you say is true then surely you will stand a better chance of riding out the storm in here instead of out there!"

"It's not as simple as that!" Chu shouted back. "Do not underestimate the lengths that the People's Liberation Army will go to protect its secrets from the rest of the world and even their own leaders in Beijing! This is just the start of—" But Chu's ranting was suddenly cut short by screaming that came out of the TV with the live news report.

"The dinosaurs have just attacked the protesters!" the reporter shouted. "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to cut this short because the police are telling us to get away—watch out!" The screen then cut to black, with only the ticker tape text at the bottom remaining to scroll along unfeelingly. At the same time, red sirens and klaxons began blaring throughout Zulu Room. A few seconds later, the vault door swung open, and Wayne the Marine guard popped his head inside. "Sir, we're going into lockdown," he reported. "Dinosaurs have just been reported loose in Causeway Park, and the Consul General has ordered all personnel into the bunkers."

"Yeah, we know!" Malen shouted back at him. "Get to the bunker, Wayne! We can handle ourselves here!"

The attack came out of nowhere, and from a most unexpected source. One moment, Gregory Malen was standing, and the next, he found himself on the floor of Zulu Room, stars floating around his head. In his dazed and confused state, he only barely saw Chu Peixin taking out Andrews, Gracie, and Shoemaker with lightning-fast kung fu moves, including a judo chop to Shoemaker's windpipe that knocked her flat on the ground like Malen. Chu then moved with surprising gazelle-like speed towards the vault door and punched Wayne the Marine guard before he could even react to the attacks, and Chu slipped in between the vault door and the walls into the classified section of the basement of the US consulate.

"Somebody stop that motherfucker!" Max Andrews shouted as he and Helga Gracie picked themselves up from the ground and ran after Chu. "He can't have gone far; he needs a keycard to call the elevator!" He and Gracie slipped through the vault door as well, leaving Malen alone with the choking Shoemaker inside Zulu Room.

Malen crawled over to Shoemaker, who was both coughing and hyperventilating from the damage that Chu's chop had done to her. "Take it easy, Demi, slow down," he told her. "The more you try to breathe, the more you're gonna cough, and the more you cough, the more you can't breathe."

"You try being in my place, Greg," Shoemaker muttered in a rasping voice. She coughed a few more times as she turned herself onto her side, spitting out some blood onto the concrete floor.

"Chu stole my keycard!" Andrews yelled out as he and Gracie returned to Zulu Room to check on Malen and Shoemaker. "The fucking Chink bastard stole my card, Greg! Now the motherfucker can go wherever he likes!" And then he noticed the state that the two were in and his demeanor immediately softened. "Oh, God," he said as he walked up to the two agents. "Are you guys okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, real swell," Malen replied sarcastically. "Of course we're not okay, dude! The first walk-in in our careers and suddenly this happens… Did you even see how fast Chu was? I thought the dude was in his sixties! How did he move so fast?"

"The guy obviously practices kung fu or whatever," Gracie said as she helped Shoemaker back to her feet. "I wouldn't be surprised if what he did was some kind of tai chi or Wing Chun move or whatever it really is."

"All right, man, what's the next move?" Andrews asked as he helped Malen stand up as well. Malen put a little weight on his left leg, and immediately he felt pain in the back of his knee and he had to lean against Andrews for some support. "Chu's out there, headed for who knows where. Those PLA dinosaurs really shook him up, but I never thought he would try to get out like this. What do we do about him now?"

"Let him die, for all I care," Shoemaker muttered angrily as she rubbed her still hurting throat. "Let the PLA kill him or the dinosaurs eat him, I don't care. If he wants to get out of Dodge so bad, let him do it himself."

"No, we can't," Malen said softly. "We have to get him back. He defected to us, to the US; he's our responsibility now. And if he dies or gets eaten out there, then that's a failure of our responsibility. We have to get him back."

"Oh, come on now, Greg, you're crazy!" Shoemaker told him.

"Look, you girls don't have to do this," Malen told her. "I can't force you and Helga to go with us because you're from Canada. This isn't in your jurisdiction. If it has to be a purely United States affair then so be it. I can't force the two of you to come with us. You can stay here with Max and wait for the all clear to sound, but I'm going to bring Dr. Chu back even if it kills me to do it." Malen made to walk towards the door of Zulu Room, but he barely made it to two steps before he almost fell down due to the pain in his knee.

"Not like that, you're not!" Andrews told him as he helped his friend back up to his feet yet again. "Dude, you're not gonna be able to run around with that gimp knee of yours, let alone run away from a dinosaur. You need help. You need my help. You know you need it."

"That's real nice of you, Max," Malen said. "Now get off of me before the girls think we're having a Brokeback Mountain moment."

"We're going too," Gracie said. "Like Max said, you need help. And you're certainly gonna need all the help you can get."

"We are?" Shoemaker asked her softly.

Gracie shushed her. "Remember, you asked for our help," she told Malen and Andrews. "And we're gonna give you guys our help."

Malen looked at the others one by one and saw in their eyes that they were all eager to help out. And he also suspected that some of that eagerness to help was born out of a desire to get some of their own back at Chu Peixin and his surprise kung fu attacks, something that he himself secretly wanted to do. "All right, then, that settles it," he said. "We're going after the doctor."

* * *

A/N: If you could leave a review or a comment telling me what you think of my story so far then I would really appreciate it. It only takes a few minutes of your time to do so, and it lets me know that there are people out there who read my stories. Thanks! – GR


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